Compressive strength characteristics of cement treated sand prepared by static compaction method

An experimental program was conducted to investigate the effects of the static compaction pressure, cement content, water/cement ratio, and curing time on unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the cement treated sand. UCS were conducted on samples prepared with 4 different cement/sand ratios and were compacted under the lowest and highest static pressures (8 MPa and 40 MPa). Each sample was cured for 7 and 28 days to observe the impact of curing time on UCS of cement treated samples. Results of the study showed the unconfined compressive strength of sand increased as the cement content (5% to 10%) of the cement-sand mixture and compaction pressure (8 MPa to 40 MPa) increased. UCS of sand soil increased 30% to 800% when cement content was increased from 2.5% to 10%. Impact of compaction pressure on UCS decreased with a reduction in cement contents. On the other hand, it was observed that as the water content the cement-sand mixture increased, the unconfined compressive strength showed tendency to decrease regardless of compaction pressure and cement content. When the curing time was extended from 7 days to 28 days, the unconfined compressive strengths of almost all the samples increased approximately by 2 or 3 times.